Test is a fishing term for the strength of a fishing line. When you buy line it has a test number. This number is the number of pounds the line can safely hold without danger of snapping. A list of fish and the test that i use:

A standard *n?x program, often hardcoded into the shell because of
its frequent use.

test allows a shell programmer to test various conditions
that result in a boolean value. It is usually used in combination
with other shell components, such as if, (allowing parts
of a shell script to be executed conditionally) or while
(to perform the test on a loop).

test takes various arguments, interprets them as a large
boolean expression (see below), and sets its exit status code to 0
if the expression is true or some nonzero value if it is false.

test is aliased by every *nix system to "[",
which makes

if [ -f "$dest" ]

equivalent to

if test -f "$dest"

If test is invoked as "[", the last argument must be,
of course , "]".

The most basic expressions to test are literal strings.
However, your shell can build complex string variables from shell variables (or command substitution)
and test won't know the difference.

There are string comparison operators that take two expressions and
compare the strings resulting from them.

expr1=expr2equality
expr1!=expr2 inequality
expr1
is the string nonempty?
-z expr1 is
the string empty?
-n expr1 is
the string nonempty?

There are numeric comparison operators that take two expressions and
compare the numbers (integers only) resulting from them.

expr1-eqexpr2equality
expr1-neexpr2inequality
expr1-gtexpr2greater than
expr1-ltexpr2less than
expr1-geexpr2greater than
or equal
expr1-leexpr2less than
or equal

However, since operator precedence is an unheard-of concept (don't
believe the man page) to test,
you will always want to use parentheses (and since parentheses have their
own special interpretation within the shell, so you must always quote them):

'(' expr1')' -a'(' expr2 ')'

There are unary operators that test what your expressions mean to the
file system:

A certain awkwardness accompanies tests. If you're like me, and know everything there ever was to know about absolutely anything, you probably finished all the tests first in school. However, Elementary Schoolteachers got it in their heads that it was a good idea to say, "first done probably does bad! Don't rush it!" You'd start to get up to pass in the test, then you'd think better of it and sit down. After all, you wouldn't want anyone to think that you're a nerd or something, and you probably missed something, because there's no way you did that well. The teacher's words float around in your head.

You sit and stare at the packet in front of you, neatly stapled in the top-left corner, and wait for the other kids to finish. They don't. You leaf through it, pretending to check your work, but you're really thinking about other things. This goes on for a while, and then you notice that other kids are looking around the room with that nervous look on their face, too. They're finished too, but they don't dare hand in the test, lest they provoke the spirits and fail the test entirely because they were the first one done. Fifteen minutes later, someone breaks and passes the test in. You still try not to get up - you don't want to seem too eager. But once that kid's gets back to his seat the time is right. You snap. So does everyone else. That's when the magic happens. A natural phenomenon seen only in a school classroom. Everyone rushes to the front, freed from the constraints of test-done-ness, eager to drop the finished test like a burning piece of coal. The tests are now "in". It's over. You breathe a sigh of relief and laugh at the dumb kid that's not done yet. Later, you try to convince your friends that you were actually the first one done.

But what about those bad tests? We all have those moments - up all night studying (not that I need to study) but none of it sticks. You decide to go through and do what you know, but it's no use. You stare down at your paper. One hundred point test, but all you can do is five. Well, shit. Soon, the test-completion phenomenon occurs and you feel the pressure. You feel naked. Everyone's staring at you. "One minute left."

1. Real users bashing on a prototype long enough to get thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful monitoring and followup of the results. 2. Some bored random user trying a couple of the simpler features with a developer looking over his or her shoulder, ready to pounce on mistakes. Judging by the quality of most software, the second definition is far more prevalent. See also demo.

A reaction employed to recognize or distinguish any particular substance or constituent of a compound, as the production of some characteristic precipitate; also, the reagent employed to produce such reaction; thus, the ordinary test for sulphuric acid is the production of a white insoluble precipitate of barium sulphate by means of some soluble barium salt.

Test actEng.Law, an act of the English Parliament prescribing a form of oath and declaration against transubstantiation, which all officers, civil and military, were formerly obliged to take within six months after their admission to office. They were obliged also to receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church of England. Blackstone. -- Test object Optics, an object which tests the power or quality of a microscope or telescope, by requiring a certain degree of excellence in the instrument to determine its existence or its peculiar texture or markings. -- Test paper. (a) Chem. Paper prepared for use in testing for certain substances by being saturated with a reagent which changes color in some specific way when acted upon by those substances; thus, litmus paper is turned red by acids, and blue by alkalies, turmeric paper is turned brown by alkalies, etc. (b) Law An instrument admitted as a standard or comparison of handwriting in those jurisdictions in which comparison of hands is permitted as a mode of proving handwriting. -- Test tube. Chem. (a) A simple tube of thin glass, closed at one end, for heating solutions and for performing ordinary reactions. (b) A graduated tube.

Syn. -- Criterion; standard; experience; proof; experiment; trial. -- Test, Trial. Trial is the wider term; test is a searching and decisive trial. It is derived from the Latin testa (earthen pot), which term was early applied to the fining pot, or crucible, in which metals are melted for trial and refinement. Hence the peculiar force of the word, as indicating a trial or criterion of the most decisive kind.

To refine, as gold or silver, in a test, or cupel; to subject to cupellation.

2.

To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try; as, to test the soundness of a principle; to test the validity of an argument.

Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution.
Washington.